Spheruleus - Home Diaries 006: Canvas Homes (2020)

Home Diaries is an invitation to artists and musicians to create an album or EP to document their personal experience during the lockdown or social distancing conditions that are upon us, due to the coronavirus outbreak. The series reflects a range of sounds, styles and ideas, as each artist portrays their own reflections uniquely. Each release is digital only for now, as we hope to raise what we can to help keep our label ticking over at this time. The releases feature a recurring polaroid image of a small lonely house, with a coloured filter chosen by the artist for each respective release. We interview each artist and this is included as a bonus PDF with the download. You can also check out the Home Diaries series on Spotify if you prefer, which will be available to stream in due course.

For our sixth release, our label owner Harry Towell returns to the catalog for the first time since 2016's Obsolarium. Harry records as Spheruleus and has released with labels such as Hibernate, Home Normal and most recently, Lost Tribe Sound with vinyl edition Light Through Open Blinds. This was an album about Harry's first year or so as a home owner, when he recorded acoustic instruments and set it against various household recordings to preserve the experience.

This new Spheruleus album effectively became the spark to create the Home Diaries series. Harry recorded short guitar or ukulele sketches during the day as his daughter Isla played, before adapting these into tracks at night. Canvas Homes is a sonic diary of the events that unfolded, telling tales of Harry's experience of lockdown, as he spent the time at home with his family. The work takes on the raw and unplanned nature of the acoustic sketches, adorned with documentary field recordings and orchestral MIDI textures.